Ionospheric Cubeswarm Concept Study: using low-resource instrumentation for truly multipoint in situ ionospheric observations

Abstract:

Magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling currents close in the nightside lower ionosphere. These spatially inhomogeneous and time varying volume currents are difficult to capture with in situ observations. Our understanding of M-I coupling systems is limited by our understanding of the actual structure of ionospheric current closure. A path forward includes assimilation of a variety of data sets into increasingly capable ionospheric models. While each data set provides only a piece of the picture, the assimilation process allows optimal use of each piece.

An important development for the necessary in situ observations involves making them truly multi-point, and therefore, low-resource. For thermal particle observations, the high densities of the lower ionosphere allow the use of low-gain (current-sensing rather than particle-counting) particle sensors. One observational goal is the definition of the actual structure of ionospheric closure currents. This can be approached with a number of different measurement techniques, in tandem with an ionospheric model, since the closure currents need to follow the rules of electrodynamics and current continuity. Low resource thermal plasma sensors such as retarding potential analyzers and drift meters can provide valuable measurements of plasma parameters, including density and plasma flow, without the need for high voltages or deployable boom systems. 

These low-resource measurements, which can be reproduced on arrays of in situ observation platforms, used in tandem with proper plasma physics interpretation of their signatures in the disturbed observing environment, and as part of an assimilated data set into an ionospheric model, can allow us to progress in our understanding of ionospheric structuring and its effects on auroral coupling. Now, with increasingly capable multipoint arrays of spacecraft, and quantitative 2D-with-time context from cameras and imagery, we are moving toward truly multipoint studies of the system-level structure of the ionosphere, including in particular the question of current closure. The Ionospheric Cubeswarm Pathfinder concept explores the possibilities of using a short-lived (several months) localized (several hundred km) ionospheric swarm of cubesats to address these questions.